2013 Top 5 Rising Chefs in the U.S. " THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED North End Grill

At North End Grill in New York City, Alexandra Ray, 29, finds her passion in pastry, making seasonal desserts that complement the restaurant's New American cuisine. Born and raised in San Diego, she discovered a love for cooking at an early age spending time in the kitchen with her mother and grandmother. In high school she worked her first restaurant job at San Diego's Mille Fleurs, where she returned after college to focus on pastry. Moving to New York in 2009, she cooked at Dressler in Brooklyn, then subsequently became a protégé of pastry chef Nancy Olson at Gramercy Tavern. Today, Alexandra's playful takes on classics like lemon meringue pie and sticky toffee pudding are perennial favorites, but she also brings her own deep creativity to the mix with desserts like salt-honey bread pudding with slow roasted apples, pecans and buttermilk sherbet.

 Read GAYOT.com's restaurant review of North End Grill

Editor's Note: Alexandra Ray has left North End Grill.